Joppette
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Posts posted by Joppette
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Ah but it shows your capacity for love Ron. You will find the new companion, I have no doubt. In the meantime you can go visit this little baby and show her your love. So sweet.
Judy in MI
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Very cool. I'm a big believer that there are NO coincidences in this world. And God put them together for a good reason.
Judy in MI
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It does make perfect sense Barb. How awesome that he came to assure you. I do believe that our loved ones visit us in our dreams. I remember when my little sister died at age 25. I was beyond devastated. She was my best friend in the whole world. She visited me quite a bit in the first year, and it gave me great peace and helped quiet my acute grief.
Judy In MI
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I did! Thank you.
Judy in MI
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Very pretty Eric! Thanks for sharing them.
Was wondering where you've been! Miss your posts in the Air.
Hope all is just wonderful for you.
Judy in MI
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HI Pam,
Welcome to our home here. I understand completely where you are coming from. While getting lung cancer was the worst thing that ever happened to me, at the same time, it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I would not be living the live I am living unless I had this disease. Because of it, I decided to live spending my time trying to make a difference, rather than just living each day for my own selfish reasons.
It was after cancer, and surgery and chemo that I realized how very precious this life is, and each day I begin with a prayer of thanks for being given another precious day, and ask God to help me spend it wisely, kindly, and graciously.
It took a while for me to find my "new normal" and with that came some depression that after going through the surgery and chemo, my normal was not my "old normal". But I figured it out quickly, because I didn't want to waste one more day looking backwards when there is so much to look forward to.
You sound like you have a fantastic set of support people, and a great attitude. You will be living life to fullest, I have no doubt.
Glad you found us. Write when you feel the need, and we'll be here for you, I promise.
Judy in MI
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Hi All,
So nice to see so many posts on the Air today. Looks like the cooler temps are putting everyone in such a good mood! It was 32 here this morning, but warmed up to 60 and was a gorgeous, sunny fall day. I love weather like this. Seems a little early for freeze warnings, hope the farmers have time to get their crops in.
Yeah KW Judy, we have missed you. Will be so glad when you are back on a regular basis. Wishing you nothing but the best with your scans.
Katie, I know what you mean. I was at a quit smoking support web site for years, only to discover some fakes on there. It got so bad, that I left the site. No drama and games needed here either. Just be who you are, we don't have time for that at support sites. We just want to help if we can.
Judy yeah for you turning into a princess and dancing the night away. I love doing that too, and we just don't get out much to do stuff like that anymore. Glad you had such a nice time.
Ann the Soc Hop sounds like a great time too. I loved the music from the 50's! Wishing you a wonderful turn out and great food, dancing and fun.
Got my new computer, and trying my best to retrieve my files. It's a process that takes patience and time. I'm trying to find both. LOL!
Judy in MI
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Hey Eric, you were on my mind this morning. Wishing you the best as you begin your treatments today. Try not to worry about it. You will be fine. If you experience nausea, or pain after two or three days be sure you have pain medication and nausea meds to help with that.
Praying for a strong spirit and positive attitude for you as you begin this journey back to health!
Judy in MI
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Ronny, I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I hope they get you straightened out very quickly. It stinks that you have to mourn both Pat and your dear pet. (HUGS)
Judy in MI
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Okay, you gave us exactly what we needed to help you. I had both Carboplatin and Taxol too. I've read here where some folks did quite well with it. I found that on the 3rd day after chemo, I was uncomfortable enough to need Vicodin for muscle pain. But everyone is different.
Make sure you get on top of the constipation. That can be an issue. Don't let it get ahead of you. You stay on top of it.
As my treatments went, I noticed a metal taste in my mouth, which made eating unpleasant. Just eat, no matter how it tastes, as you'll tolerate the medications better, and you don't want to lose weight during chemo.
I didn't have radiation, so I'm sure some others will know what that is and can advise you.
My chemo regime was very effective, and I think it's a good one. Wishing you the best. Stay positive no matter what. It really does help one go through this.
It won't be easy, but you can do this, I have no doubt.
Judy in MI
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Hi everyone!
Bud, you kill me when you say you had a "short" mileage for September with "only" 723 miles logged in. Oh my goodness. You inspire me to keep pushing and keep going. Thank you.
Loved the web site. I sent the link to my fisherman husband. He doesn't fish as much as you, but he loves it when he gets the chance to fish. He'll do a lot of ice fishing this winter on our lake, and just recently got into fly fishing in the river. Had some awesome smoked salmon that he caught last week.
Donny, how frightening that must have been! Does the power company have you on their list of top priorities. If not, call them, and get a note from your doctor. We have an auto on generator that kicks in the second the power goes off. Hope you can find a way to have that too.
Well, after the concussion earlier this week, I am doing much better today. Actually got two nights of awesome sleep, without a single spasm! Woke today feeling pretty darn good. That puts me in such a good mood for sure.
My computer died this week too. Ack! The repair cost was 50% of a new computer, and taking into consideration that my computer is 4 years old, I decided to just replace it. So this weekend I'll be pulling all my hard drive info off the internet where I have it backed up and hoping it all goes well, so I am up and running by Monday.
Have not been here much because of the crashed lap top. I came into church work today and am taking advantage of the computer here to catch up a bit.
We are going to go to Art Prize this weekend. Check it out. It's thousands of artists that create their pieces and the community of West Michigan runs all over town, looking at and voting on the pieces they love the most. The winner gets $250,000.00. This event has literally put Grand Rapids on the map around the entire world. It's really cool.
Have a great weekend. I may not be around much depending on how successful I am in gettin the new computer working.
Judy in MI
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Susan, sending prayers your way that your Mom is open to the idea of quality of life, and that it may actually extend her life! ((((HUGS)))))
Judy in MI
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E, no one deserves cancer of any kind. You saw the stats. 60percent of all LC are in non-smokers or smokers that had quit. No more punishing your self.
Now what is your chemotherapy cocktail? They should have given you a paper with exactly what they are giving you and it's side effects. Curious. Mine es
As carboplatin and taxol.
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Good evening friends. Gosh, how can we get the daily Air's livened up so that more people participate????? I see lots of views, but few shares. I know...I've complained about that before.
Sorry.
Anyway, the last 3 days have been a blur with this concussion. Time seems weird to me, and today I talked all day like it was a Monday, and that I hit my head last week, which is totally not what happened. I know it happened Sunday, and I now know it's Wednesday. LOL!
So I'm getting better. Don't want to take too many hard knocks on the head. That really messed me up!
So today I spent the day at volunteer work, trying to make up for lost time for Monday and Tuesday when I was not allowed to drive. it was fun. Got so much accomplished. Might have bitten off more than I could chew though because I feel like i'm falling asleep at the keyboard.
I never go to bed at 8:40PM. May break a record tonight!
Nite Nite,
Judy in MI
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Susan, my heart goes out to you. If she didn't say no to Hospice, you are in good shape. My Mom was adamant that she did not want Hospice. She felt that if she "let" them in, it meant she was dying and not willing to fight.
It's a mighty fine line when your loved one is feeling this way. How I finally convinced to accept their care, is when I said "Mom, Hospice does not come here because you're dying, they come to help you live more comfortably." And that is not a lie. She looked so surprised when I said that. Because her husband and daughter both died of cancer and had Hospice care she associated a negative connotation to them.
She said yes to Hospice, and we set about getting her as comfortable as possible. I believe she lived her last 9 months because of the excellent care she got. I don't think she would have had that time without their help. She got the right combination of pain meds, which allowed her to do things she loved, like shopping, going to sewing classes, out to dinner and lunches.
And I felt so grateful that I had that time with her. It must be so frustrating for you to live so far away. Helpless feelings. Don't feel guilty. Give her lots of phone time, mail her encouraging things, and Hospice care would be the best for her.
Judy in MI
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Eric, your post on Facebook was awesome. All stages can be beatable, but stage III is much better than IV. Do let us know the details on both the cancer, and the plan of action, so we c an help you fight the side effects.
Trust me, you will need to advocate for yourself. The doctor's are going to do what they believe is best for you, but you will want to know possible side effects and solutions to them from us, who have gone down this road before you.
Judy in MI
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Oh and I forgot, we went in sopping wet, and as I'm trying to peel the wet clothes off, I got horrific spasms. So now we are trying to get those to release, get me dressed, and it was just stupid.
Oh and then my computer died. So now I'm home bound without a PC. Have hubs right now, so I could post, but I'll lose that tomorrow. The motherboard on the hard drive cacked, so I have to get a new PC. Fortunately I back up my hard drive every day on an on line back up service I use. It cost me $5.00 a month, but it's going to be worth every penny tomorrow when I get my new PC.
Judy in MI
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For our non-facebook friends here, let me tell you a story. Many of you know the challenges I am facing with the mysterious muscle spasms. They can be quite debilitating, and it's been a challenge post chemo.
So Saturday night was hellish, constant spasms, and very little sleep. At church, we ask a couple to come over and enjoy some salmon that hubby caught up North this past Thursday.
So, we make this delicious Vodka, Alfredo (red) sauce, and mix the salmon and pasta in and it was fabulous. We enjoyed a glass of red zinfandel wine with it. Then we decided to walk down to the lake and enjoy a beautiful sunset. It was gorgeous. In the mid 50's, so nice sweatshirt and jacket weather.
We got to the dock and the men decided we should take one last paddle boat ride around our little lake. It's getting cool here, so it was time to take her out of the water and put her up for the winter.
We'd never had 4 people on the boat before. We learned that there are certain theories of physics that need to be applied before piling 4 people on the boat. #1 physic is to have the big boys get on first, with one on one side on the front end of the boat, and one on the opposite side on the back end of the boat. Would have balanced the boat nicely, and then us girls (who weight at least 100 pounds less than the boys) could get on, and we would have been off paddling to our hearts content.
But we did not do this.
One man got in the front seat, and then hubs decided us girls should sit up front with him, and hubs would get on the back. We did just that and when Randy got on the back the boat immediately flipped up in the air.
I can see it in slow motion as this pretty large, metal, 500 pound paddle boat flips upside down with a great big pontoon coming straight at me. I grabbed the dock, holding on for dear life, because the water is 30 feet deep right off the dock!
Off came my girlfriend, on top of me, then came her husband on top of her, all of this after I got knocked soundly in the head by the pontoon. My husband managed to jump off the boat before the crash, and immediately swam under water to find me. And he did.
The guys yanked us girls, sopping wet from the deep water, and we stood there laughing our guts out at the absurd thing that just happened. We, of course had no idea of the damage done to our bodies at that point.
They went home after some dessert, and we went to bed. I woke yesterday not feeling great, but what the heck, with these spasms I never feel great, so I got up, showered, and off to work I went.
At work I'm feeling dizzy, and my head starts to pound. Along with that I started feeling very nauseous. When my "boss" saw me, pure white and kind of staggering around, he insisted I go to the ER at the hospital.
He had a woman friend take me, and they immediately put me on a bed and whisked me off for a CT scan of my brain (2nd one in 3 weeks due to the "C" thing). Fortunately the scan came back negative for fracture or bleeding, but they said I sustained an amazinly bad concussion.
I made it home, but was nauseous and the stuff that goes with that. I was in great pain, both on the head and my body now due to the bruising that ensued. They gave me meds for nausea, and a patch behind the ear for nausea and dizziness. They gave me another drug for the dizziness, too and Vicodin for the pain.
I didn't get out of bed for the rest of the day, and felt horrible. They said to expect that for a few days after.
Today I am feeling a bit better. Still a little dizzy, but nausea is gone, and headache is a little better. So tomorrow I'll try to go to volunteer work, as I'm quite far behind. But if I'm still dizzy, may have to take one more day off.
Whew!!!!! What an ordeal. I posted on Facebook that I got hit by a paddle boat and got quite the flak for being so old I couldn't swim fast enough to get out of the way. So I had to tell the whole silly story to explain this ridiculous thing that happened.
Anyway, I'm going to be okay. Just had to share my ridiculous story with you all.
Judy in MI
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Think I'll do a separate post on my story from this weekend. It's just too bizarre.
Hope you all had a good Tuesday.
Judy in MI
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BRUTAL~!!!!! And very funny! Thanks for sharing. Love your sense of humor.
Trying hard to find one today and not succeeding.
Judy in MI
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Hi Ronnie,
So sorry about your baby. I know she gave you lots of comfort. Please consider getting an older "puppy". I didn't want to go through the pain of a baby puppy, so got one that was seven months old. She still requires a lot of energy and stimulation, but she's gotten through the chew stage, and is more settled. I adore her and she is amazing. She's a Labradoodle, and I have to say with the pain I've been going through, the joy she brings is a delight to me.
Here's a picture of her. Now doesn't this just make you smile? That is what she does for me. She just makes me smile.
No matter what I hope you are okay. Hang in there Ronnie. Things will get better.
((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))
Judy in MI
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How frustrating this must be. I did a Google search only to see that Ewings Sarcoma is a cancer that does not know where the primary site is. It sounds and acts like a bone cancer only it's not. How frustrating.
Your Dad must be so frightened. All that in-patient time must just stink! I so feel for you.
I hope that you all find time to just love each other, and not focus on the disease, but on your love for each other.
Judy in MI
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Susan,
I did a Google search on this navelbine, and it sounds like a good treatment plan! The side effects are relatively benign, and it seems to be quite effective.
This is great cause for celebration! I don't have experience with this drug, but am encouraged by what I read. Hopefully Ned will weigh in here for you.
Be encouraged.
Judy in MI
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Eric, you could never bore the socks off us. That was a great story, and great rendition of what must have been an extremely exciting conference. I love how you advocate for lung cancer.
I do the same here with Gilda's Club, but it's on a much smaller scale.
What a story about Robert! That's quite the detour on the train ride!!!!! How exciting about Jennifer and the S.F. film she is in. Glencoe sounds like an exotic and beautiful place!
Now.............
You ask about our American words and slang, and I must do the same.
What the heck is a blether. I know what coffee is, but blether???
What on earth is a Whyte and Mackay? I have never heard of such a thing.
Anyway, it sounds like you had an amazing time. Loved the description of the speed dating interviews and how much fun you all had with that.
What a delight you are Eric. Seriously. I so enjoy your posts. Keep them coming. Your zest for life makes my heart happy.
Not doing so well as you. Been having horrific spasms in my feet and calves the last couple of days. No reason for them. Did nothing to deserve it. Just random spasms that keep me up all night, and leave me exhausted and so sore in the muscles afterward.
I try my best to stay positive, but today I just felt defeated. It's a Saturday morning. The sun is shining. I want to go to this fabulous Art thing called Art Prize. Google it. It's huge. I so want to explore it. But the only way I can is if I rent a wheelchair. Darn it! I'm not ready to resign myself to a wheelchair!!!! I want a medical diagnosis that tells me I have to be in one.
Anyway, I guess I won't go to the Art show. I have a birthday party for my nephew this afternoon. I guess I'll just go to that and sit.
Sometimes I just think life sucks.
Sorry.
Judy in MI
Tuesday's Air
in JUST FOR FUN
Posted
Hi everyone, guess we all get to enjoy yet another beautiful day! It's spectacular here. 65 degrees, nice little breeze blowing, sun is shining. Leaves are turning big time now, wouldn't mind a little trip up North to enjoy the beauty of Fall in Northern Michigan. Nothing is prettier.
Ann, I concur about yesterday. It was wretchedly hectic, and as a result I was racked with spasms last night in my feet, back and ribs. Was a horrible way to spend the over night. Next week I head to U of M, hoping, praying for answers. In the meantime, trying to focus on the beauty around me. Have my windows open and can hear the dogs outside running around joyfully chasing each other and enjoying this weather too.
Well, I think I am going to concentrate on trying to figure out how to retrieve the files I lost in the computer crash. Yeah!
Judy in MI